From a reader in Louisiana:

The telegraphone answering machine mentioned in the March 1907 issue of the Ziegler sounded interesting. I wonder if it went into general use, for blind people or anyone else.

It must have been a very different world for everyone in 1907, especially blind people--no Internet, no National Library Service talking book program, no SSI check, no National Federation of the Blind or American Council of the Blind. But the March articles made me think that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The problems with railway deaths in 1907 could happen with any form of modern transportation. As for the piece mentioning Japanese children in San Francisco schools: What a condescending remark, to say these "little people," though they might not say much, "are doing a lot of thinking."

I wonder what the average blind person did back then. Surely some avenues were open to them. Of course, with unemployment at 70-75 percent, we are not terribly better off today. We do have a better support network nowadays.

To come back to the history of the Ziegler--Walter Holmes sounds like an especially nice guy, but I was irked when he called the blind "afflicted" in his letter. The circumstances of his death are mysterious. Did he commit suicide by jumping from his hotel window, was it an accident, or was he pushed? The history of real people intrigues me.